Media Influences On Pro-Social Behaviour

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developmental factors

Eisenberg and Kohlbery.

Back 1

An explanationfor media influences on pro-social behaviour is developmental factors. Researchsuggests that factors such as empathy, perspective taking and moral reasoningdevelop throughout childhood. (Eisenberg and Kohlbery.) Therefore we wouldexpect to find developmental differences in the degree to which children ofdifferent ages are influenced by pro-social behaviour. This means the youngerthe child; the less affect pro social behaviour will have on them.

Hint 1

developmental,empathy, perspective,moral,differences,ages,influenced,younger,child,less

Front 2

observational learning

Bandura’s

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An other explanation for media influences on pro-socialbehaviour is observational learning. Bandura’s social learning theory statesthat through observation we learn how to do things and when it is acceptable todo them. We then imitate those behaviours and the consequence of imitating themdetermines whether the behaviours will be repeated. Watching pro social acts on TV is more likelyto represent established social norms and therefore these acts will reinforceour social norms and not contrast with them which results in a higher chance ofbeing rewarded for imitating pro social acts rather than anti social ones.

Hint 2

observational,learn how,when,imitate,consequence,repeated,TV,established,reinforce,rewarded

Front 3

Mckenna et al

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There is evidence to support the assumption that developmentalfactors are an explanation for mediainfluences on pro-social behaviour. Mckenna et al conducted a study where bychildren ages 4-10 watched an episode of the power rangers and where askedabout the moral messages in the episode. They found that only children aged8-10 could actually understand what the moral message behind the episode was. Thisis a strength because it suggests that only the older children were affected bythe pro-social message in the episode and thus supports the supportsdevelopmental factors an explanation for pro social behaviour.

Hint 3

assumption, 4-10,power rangers,moral,8-10,understand,older,affected,supports

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Mares (1996)

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Despite theexpectation that younger children would be least effected by pro social programmingthe meta analysis by Mares (1996) found that the weakest effect was foradolescents and the strongest effect was for primary school children. Theexpectation that media may have an effect on the development of pro socialreasoning may be unrealistic as children may not be ready to absorb theinformation and they are likely to be more affected by home experiencescompared to media exposure.

Hint 4

expectation,younger,least,weakest effect adolescents,strongest,primary,unrealistic,absorb

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Sprafkin et al

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One strength of social learning theory as an explanation of mediainfluences on pro-social behaviour is that there is evidence to support itsassumptions. Sprafkin et al (1975) showed when young children either watched anepisode of Lassie where a child rescued a dog, a neutral Lassie episode or aneutral program. They found that those who watched an episode of Lassie where achild rescued a dog were more likely to help puppies in distress than childrenwho watched a neutral program. This is astrength because it suggests that the children imitated the pro-social behaviourthey had observed being modelled and because they had remembered it, had the opportunity to reproduce and also sawthe original character being rewarded fortheir actions (vicarious reinforcement). As a consequence, this increases validity of the Social Learning Theory as an explanation of mediainfluence on pro-social behaiour.

Hint 5

slt,pro,Lassie,neutral,help,puppies,imitated,observed,remembered,opportunity,rewarded,vicarious

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Mares (2001)

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However there is a lack of generalisation with pro-socialbehaviours as Mares (2001) found that children where more likely to generaliseacts of violence than pro-social behaviour, which means that pro-social actionswere just an imitation whereas anti-social actions were expressed in adifferent way. The lack of generalisation limits the overall effectiveness of the explanation for media influences onpro-social behaviour.

Hint 6

lack ,generalisation,likely,violence,pro,actions,imitation,anti,expressed,limits